WOMEN’S GOLF: Bailey Tardy Leads Georgia to Win in Windy City Collegiate Classic

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WOMEN’S GOLF: Bailey Tardy Leads Georgia to Win in Windy City Collegiate Classic

Bailey Tardy plays her tee shot on the 14th hole during the third round of match play at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Portland Golf Club in Portland, Ore. on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)
[su_spacer size=”20″] Freshman Bailey Tardy’s record-breaking day led the Georgia women’s golf team to a pair of titles at the Windy City Collegiate Classic on Tuesday. Tardy finished the 54-hole event at 12-under 204, besting both the Georgia and tournament individual records. She also lifted the No. 5-ranked Bulldogs to a share of the team title with No. 3 Arizona and No. 6 Northwestern at 12-under 852.

Tardy shot 5-under 67 en route to victory, including five birdies in her final nine holes.

“It’s a great accomplishment and even more so to do it when your team needs you,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “For Bailey to close 5-under on the back nine when we’re trying to win a team title competing against maybe four top-5 programs – that says a lot about her and a lot about her round.”

“I’m very excited,” Tardy said. “I made two really clutch birdie putts coming in on 17 and 18, but I had no idea I was even close to breaking any records.”

Tardy’s 12-under tally bested Reilley Rankin’s 11-under Georgia record during the 1998 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic. She broke the Windy City Collegiate Classic mark of 5-under set by Arizona’s Lindsey Weaver in 2013 and equaled by Southern Cal’s Annie Park last year.

Georgia’s 12-under team total is the second-best in school history, trailing only a 14-under effort at the 2009 Cougar Classic.

Tardy bookended seven pars with a birdie at No. 1 and a bogey at No. 9 to turn at even. She then posted birdies at No. 10, No. 11, No. 14, No. 17 and No. 18 and eventually finished five shots ahead of the field.

“I think how I struck the ball was pretty equal on the front and back nine,” Tardy said. “I just made more putts. I could have shot a scary score today, but my putts weren’t falling. At No. 8, it was a reachable par-5 and I missed a 4-foot, tap-in birdie putt. That got me a little heated, and I made a stupid mistake on No. 9. After that, I just stepped on No. 10 tee and thought, ‘It’s a new nine. Anything can happen. Just play like you’ve been playing for the last two rounds.’ I started trusting my line and putting better strokes on my putts. I didn’t make any mistakes on the back nine. It was pretty much perfect golf.”

Georgia closed with a 2-over 290 as a team, also counting a 73 from Rinko Mitsunaga and a pair of 75s from Jillian Hollis and Harang Lee.

The Bulldogs entered the final round with a two-shot lead over Northwestern. The Wildcats appeared to take control early in the day after playing the first three holes at 5-under. Northwestern’s lead bulged to eight shots at one point before the Wildcats came back to the field.

The Bulldogs were in a similar position two weeks ago at the Mason Rudolph Championship, leading after two rounds before finishing third.

“I knew just from watching that Northwestern was making a lot of birdies,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “This is where we learned from the Mason Rudolph. We knew we had to be patient and hang around and hopefully they would come back and we would start making some birdies at the end, which we did.”

In addition to Tardy’s five birdies, Mitsugana played the back side at 1-under and Hollis birdied No. 16 and No. 18.

Tardy, playing in the final group, didn’t know the Bulldogs were in contention until after she finished.

“I had no clue,” Tardy said. “I hit a really bad drive on 18 about 20 yards right in the trees. Luckily, I hit a 7-iron over the trees and into the green. People clapped, and I thought it was a pretty good shot. Then a Northwestern girl hit it further out than I was. Everyone cheered and I thought Northwestern must be winning. When I hit the putt, the team didn’t come after me because there were still other people who needed to putt out. When they came up to hug me I asked how the team did and they told me my putt tied us for the win. I had no idea.”

Through four tournaments and 11 rounds this season the Bulldogs are a combined 22-under as a team. Georgia shot even-par at the first two events and finished the Mason Rudolph at 10-under. By comparison, Georgia posted six par-or-better tournament scores in 36 seasons and 413 events prior to this fall.

“We’re off to a great start,” Brewer said. “You want to win everything, but you couldn’t ask for a better start as a coach and a program. It’s good for players who have worked so hard. It’s a very exciting time in Athens right now.”

Georgia will return to action next weekend when the Bulldogs complete their fall slate at the Stanford Intercollegiate on Oct. 18-20.

 

Windy City Collegiate Classic

Westmoreland Country Club

Wilmette, Ill.

Par 72, 6291 Yards

 

Tuesday’s Final Results

 

Team Leaderboard

Georgia                           284-278-290-852

Northwestern                      284-280-288=852

Arizona                           291-280-281=852

Arizona State                     291-282-280=853

Southern Cal                      283-283-290=856

Oklahoma State                    293-276-288=857

Iowa State                        294-287-290=871

Florida                           296-287-289=872

Purdue                            286-299-290=875

Ohio State                        295-284-298=877

Tulane                            293-292-296=881

UC Davis                          292-299-297=888

Minnesota                         301-292-298=891

Wisconsin                         295-304-295=894

Virginia Tech                     299-297-300=896

 

Individual Leaderboard

Bailey Tardy, Georgia             70-67-67=204

Jessica Vasilic, Arizona          70-69-70=209

Karen Chung, Southern Cal         68-71-70=209

Silvia Garces, Tulane             70-72-69=211

Kacie Komoto, Northwestern        73-71-67=211

Madison Kerley, Arizona State     76-68-68=212

Wanasa Zhou, Arizona              73-70-69=212

Hannah Kim, Northwestern          66-71-75=212

Celia Barquin, Iowa State         71-69-73=213

Maddie McCrary, Oklahoma State    78-65-70=213

Monica Vaughn, Arizona State      72-71-70=213

Linnea Strom, Arizona State       70-69-74=213

Chih-Min Chen, Oklahoma State     69-71-73=213

 

Additional Georgia Scores

T19. Harang Lee, Georgia          70-70-75=215

T25. Jillian Hollis, Georgia      71-70-75=216

T34. Rinko Mitsunaga, Georgia     73-72-73=218

T64. Isabella Skinner, Georgia    77-71-79=227
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